Like what you hear in Band-in-a-Box®? Make sure to Freeze the track(s) or song! Once frozen, it won't be regeneraged or change when you play it again - and your choice isn't final, since you can unfreeze them just as easily:

press the blue snowflake button within the track name of the mixer window

press the blue snowflake button within the expanded toolbar of the program (Ctrl + T will swap between the two toolbar views), and select the track(s)

Note: If you want to force Band-in-a-Box® to generate tracks without adjusting the Freeze settings, hold down the Shift key as you press the [Generate and Play] button (the fly-by hint will remind you of that) or choose the menu command Play | Play Special | Generate (even if tracks are frozen).

Frozen tracks will play back instantly, not requiring time to generate.

They play back the same way each time, so if you like a solo, you can "freeze it."

If you send a song to a friend as "frozen," they will hear the same performance.

For the Soloist track, if you generate a solo, it can now be saved (by freezing the track).

Reasons to Freeze a MIDI track:

You can edit the MIDI data, to customize the performance to match a certain song, and this will be saved. Use the Notation or Piano Roll window to edit the track.

More reasons to freeze any track:

Frozen tracks play back instantly, without requiring time to regenerate.

They play back the same way each time.

You can change the chord progression of the song and have one part playing a different chord progression than the rest of the band. For example, type a “blowing” chord progression, generate a solo, freeze the solo track, then type a normal chord progression and generate the rest of the instruments (bass/guitar etc.) that will play the normal changes.

Have different instruments play different styles. For example, the Bass could be generated using Reggae, then Frozen, and then the rest of the instruments generated using a Techno style.

1. Using holds & shots often will affect the soloist, so that it instead of actually soloing over those bars, it goes along with the rest into shots & holds (which is rarely what you'd want). Solution: Generate the soloist before you enter the Chords Options for the SRH (shots/rests/holds), then freeze Soloist and now adjust SRH for the other tracks (see/hear for instance my "Modern Mozart" in Showcase where I've done precisely this).

2. Rests (generally) work far better artistically when entered via the Chords Options instead of the brute force muting in Bar settings, but there could be cases where you wanted a rest for an instrument at a bar where you also wanted a hold for another instrument. Or in the case of drums, often a hold for drums will sound far more pleasing than the Shot, particularly on slower tempos, even if the Shot is what you wanted for the overall instruments -> Freeze to the rescue!!First do the 'odd one out' exception, freeze it and deactivate the SRH for that track (once frozen it should still play that way) so that you can then do the SRH that's intended for the majority, and presto!

One of the newest features added to Band-in-a-Box® 2019 for Windows is Drum Notation Support!
•All the MIDI Drums have drum notation. Play the MIDI Drums and open the Notation window. Then, select the Drums track and you will see drum notation.
•Drum notation can be entered by a user on the Melody/Soloist track.

Learn how to enter MIDI Drums notation when you jump to this topic in our New Features video:35:18 - New Features: New Track Type - Drum Notation

Here's what they're saying:
"I can't get enough of the Xtra Styles!"
"These RealStyles are phenomenal!!"
"These are AWESOME!"
"Gypsy Jazz? Yippee!"
"I want them ALL!"
"The Country Xtra Styles are perfect for my songs!"
"Everyone should have these!"

We're having a SALE! During the month of December, purchase Xtra Styles PAK 6 for just $29! (reg. $49) In fact, each Volume (6 total) is available for just $29 each - we're also offering a special price for a purchase of ALL Volumes 1-6 - for just $159 you can receive ALL 900+ RealStyles!

With the release of Band-in-a-Box® 2019 for Windows, we've packed our Free Bonus PAK & 49-PAK with some amazing Add-ons! The Free Bonus PAK is automatically included with most Band-in-a-Box® for Windows 2019 packages, but for more even more Add-ons (including 40 Unreleased RealTracks) upgrade it to the 2019 49-PAK for only $49. You can see the full lists of items in each package, and listen to demos here.

There are Notation Enhancements in the NEW Band-in-a-Box® 2019 for Windows! These include:
•A new button in the Print Options dialog which lets you quickly print a "chords only" fake sheet. You can also access this from the right-click menu on the chord sheet.
•A new track type (Drums) is now available for The Melody and Soloist tracks.
•Clicking close to a stave line will put a note on the stave line instead of between stave lines. (Previously, you had to click extremely close to a stave line to insert a note on The line.)
•Double-clicking on the Standard mode Notation window (or on the time line in Editable or Staff Roll mode) plays the song from the current time location. Previously, it played the song from the beginning of the current bar.
•Holding down the [Ctrl] key and pressing the zoom in/out buttons results in finest possible incremental adjustment in size.
•In The Notation Windows Options dialog, The clefs split point asterisk indicates that C5* is middle C.
•Pressing The space bar plays the song from the current time location, not the current bar.
•The clefs split point can be set by the spin controls.
•The right-click menu in the Editable or Staff Roll mode Notation window has an option to change the current beat resolution. Previously, the only way to do this was to right-click on the time line.
•There's a keystroke entry notation mode - the 'N' mode, which lets you enter a melody entirely using keystrokes. The keystrokes are N to enter a note, up/down cursor to change its pitch, and left/right cursor to move the time line.
•You can now edit any track in the Event List Editor. When The dialog opens, it will show you the MIDI data in the current Notation track.
•You can quickly enter forced accidentals from the right-click menu.

With Band-in-a-Box® 2019, the SongPicker has been redesigned!
-The completely redesigned window shows information for up to 50,000 songs.
-The song list build is much faster. Approximately 150 songs get added per second.
-A progress bar will appear if the song list build takes longer than 3 seconds.
-You can see the chord progression for the selected song in the list. You can copy and paste it to a text file.
-Many filters are available. You can filter the list by subfolders, genre, feel, time signature, style, songs with melody, soloist, lyrics, key signature, tempo range, and the year of file dates.
-You can search songs that have similar chord progressions and/or melody fragments.
-Hotkey! ss+enter opens the SongPicker, ss2+enter opens the Recently Played Songs, etc.

Learn more about the updates with our New Features Video - we've made it easy to find the section you'll need:2:55 - New Feature: Redesigned SongPicker21:58 - New Features: SongPicker Enhancements41:10 - Now Over 10,600 Titles in SongPicker

RealBand 2019 is included in every purchase of Band-in-a-Box® 2019 for Windows! We're having a SALE on Band-in-a-Box® 2019 Upgrade purchases until December 31, 2018 - save over 40% when you purchase your Band-in-a-Box® 2019 for Windows Upgrade! Check out our Band-in-a-Box® packages page for all the purchase options available

Don't forget.... We're having a SALE on Band-in-a-Box® 2019 Upgrade purchases until December 31, 2018 - save over 40% when you purchase your Band-in-a-Box® 2019 for Windows Upgrade! Check out our Band-in-a-Box® packages page for all the purchase options available

Other ways to find help.

Toll Free Order Lines

Current time is:

One of our representatives will be happy to help you over the phone. Our hours of operation are from
6:00AM to 7:00PM PST (GMT -8) Monday thru Friday, 8:00AM to 5:00PM PST Saturday, and 8:00AM to 4:00PM
PST Sundays & Holidays. You can also send us your questions via email.

Tech Support

Hours of operation are from 10:00AM to 5:00PM PST (GMT -8) Monday thru Friday. (Please note:
Tech Support is not available on weekends or Holidays.) You can also send us your technical
support questions via fax or email.